Stonewall A Stonewall Jackson Bookshelf

unfortunately a lot of books published pre 2000s don't have an ebook form and honestly probably will not for some time if ever. Both of those books by Dr. Robertson are not available in e book.
 
Welcome to the Stonewall Jackson forum, Joe!

Unfortunately I can't answer your question, as I have the hardbound Robertson and have never bought or read an online book of any kind; I hope someone else can step up and help you. On a totally unrelated note, one of my "treasures" is a 1938-dated Czechoslovak Mauser rifle ( a VZ 27, if I remember right ), from the markings of which show it to have come from the Slovak factory instead of from Brno; likely it armed part of the Slovak force that fought against the Soviet Union in 1941. It shoots better than either of the German K98k's I also have!

That is a pretty nice rifle James. It should be vz. 24.
Here is a link about the rifle, although, it is in Czech language. http://forum.valka.cz/viewtopic.php/title/CZK-vz-24/t/8237

AS far as I know all 3 "major" armories (Bratislava, Kosice, Trencin) on the Slovakian territory, were created after 1937. Although, they resembled storehouses more than factories, since it is '38 model, it is possible for weapons being assembled there. The major armory supplying Czechoslovakia and other countries, however, was the one in Brno.

Sorry for the off-topic :smile:
 
That is a pretty nice rifle James. It should be vz. 24.
Here is a link about the rifle, although, it is in Czech language. http://forum.valka.cz/viewtopic.php/title/CZK-vz-24/t/8237

AS far as I know all 3 "major" armories (Bratislava, Kosice, Trencin) on the Slovakian territory, were created after 1937. Although, they resembled storehouses more than factories, since it is '38 model, it is possible for weapons being assembled there. The major armory supplying Czechoslovakia and other countries, however, was the one in Brno.

Sorry for the off-topic :smile:

Yes, that's it - thanks for the link, which translates into English; the receiver markings are almost identical to these! Without pulling it down off the gun rack, I tend to forget and confuse the model no. with that of the Polish Mausers - I don't have one of those, but a friend who's another member of the forums here does. It's been several years since I got it and I no longer remember why I think it's Slovak rather than Czech, but for one it doesn't have any waffens indicating German use.

No need to apologize; after all, I'm the one who brought it up!
 
I just found this thread. Very helpful. I've not read much biography but Jackson is a fascinating guy and I might have to change my ways a bit. I've got a twig in my family tree who served on his staff (and that twig had a sprout who was one of the New Market cadets). I've got family in the same cemetery where Jackson is buried too. So, there's a tenuous connection. Thanks y'all.
 
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It seems to me nothing's more important than SOURCES when trying to have an intelligent conversation or discussion; how exasperating it is to hear "But I heard on The History Channel..."! Researching this particular topic on my own favorite source, Amazon, I was struck by the large number of works I'd never seen before, since most of my reading was in the "Dark Ages" around the time beginning with the Civil War Centennial of the 1960's and continuing through my college and early adult years, now longer ago than I like to admit! Please excuse me then, if this list is "heavy" on Classics like that pictured above, and "light" on more recent works - in fact I heartily encourage readers to submit any titles, new or old, they feel would be good additions to this thread.

I propose to break this up into at least four major categories: general biographical works; "military biographies" exclusively considering Jackson's place as a "Great Commander"; memoirs and reminiscances of those who either knew or served under him; paritcular campaign or battle studies in which he played a major role; and a miscellany of other Jackson-related topics. Since this particular forum is personality-based ( and a single very strong personality at that! ), the first category should be that of biography:

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General Biographical Studies

Since its appearance in 1997, James I. Robertson, Jr.'s Stonewall Jackson - The Man, The Soldier, The Legend has set the standard by which all others must be measured. This is in no way a "quick read" at 762 pages of text ( plus another 125 pages or so of readable notes! ), so I don't recommend it to anyone looking for an overview of the General or his career; but for those really wishing to understand or "get inside" the subject, it's simply the best and not likely to be surpassed anytime soon if ever! I had the pleasure of attending one of Dr. Robertson's CW Roundtable talks on Jackson about ten years ago and found him to be as knowledgeable and lively in person as he is on paper. If there is a fault in this, it's the same fault as in the classic studies by fellow Virginian Douglas Southall Freeman in his George Washington, R. E. Lee, and Lee's Lieutenants, that of identifying, sympathizing, and empathizing perhaps a bit TOO closely with his subject.

Other noteworthy biographies of Jackson include the vastly reader-friendly They Called Him Stonewall by another Virginian, Burke Davis, who made a career of writing about the lives of other famous citizens of his state: Gray Fox ( R. E. Lee ), Jeb Stuart - The Last Cavalier, and George Washington and the American Revolution. Davis sticks to the well-known and most important features of the careers of his subjects in a lively manner that flows along in books of average length that I highly recommend. I must confess I have never read another of the standards of that era, Frank Vandiver's Mighty Stonewall, despite the fact he was briefly President of my Alma Mater! ( Being an essentially lazy collegian, I tended to shy away from its bulk; anyone who can comment on its worthiness to appear here, please feel free to do so! ) Two other intriguing-looking relative newcomers I saw on Amazon are the recent Stonewall Jackson: A Biography by Ethan S. Rafuse Ph.D. and Stonewall - A Biography of Gen. Thomas J. Jackson by Byron Farwell; anyone having personal knowledge of either of these, please let us know about them. Of course this only includes an important few of the many biographical titles available; next time, I will list some of the purely military studies.

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( Disclaimer - the particular volumes pictured herein may be of editions no longer available; the titles themselves are all currently listed on Amazon, however. )
I've got a lot of reading to do! Thanks--great post!
 
Jackson's Valley Campaign, November 1861 - June 1862

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I've just finished this short ( 220-page ) volume on Jackson's Valley Campaign by David G. Martin in a series called Great Campaigns. Though not without certain flaws, it provides what some readers have asked for, a concise but reasonably detailed and easy-to-follow account of the maneuvers and battles of Jackson's most famous contribution to the military art. It was originally published in 1988 ( revised in 1994 ), but remains a good introduction to Stonewall and what can sometimes be a confusing period and theater of the war.

For a fuller review and description, please see:

http://civilwartalk.com/threads/jacksons-valley-campaign-by-david-g-martin.113484/
 
I'd second or third Rebel Yell...

I am listening to it on Audiobook that I got out of our local public library. I actually enjoy my commute to/from work now! It is read exceptionally well and is very engaging.

So much I did know about the man's childhood hardships and heart-wrenching experiences he had growing up and with his first wife. He appears to be like two different people..on and off the battlefield. Of course a lot of us could say that on/off work we are different people. But his work probably involved more life/death decisions than most of us encounter.
 
Now this is creepy. When I was at Chancellorsville 150, one of the guys in the author's tent there had a book, Pale Blue Light. I didn't mention it, because I didn't read it. However, I do recall that it has a similar premise: the story is about what would be called a "black op" today to assassinate one Thomas J. Jackson.

I always wonder when two very similar books like that... you know what I mean, I'm sure.

Let's see... there is a novel called Stonewall by John Dwyer. I read it some years ago, and it's good if you want an in-depth look at Jackson as a religious man. Some didn't care for it because the war only occupies the last quarter or third of the book, because of the aforementioned spiritual focus.

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Even though it is a "what if," story Stonewall Goes West does a very good job of characterizing Jackson, as well as Sandie Pendleton. J.P. Smith, Wells Hawks, Hunter McGuire, and John Harman are all in there as minor characters. I found myself laughing out loud (I really mean it, so I won't use "LOL") at the way the Jackson and Early relationship was handled in the first couple of chapters:bounce:

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Another "what if" I know about followed the usual Jackson scenario -- he lives and goes to Gettysburg. It was only about 150 pages long, though, not especially imaginative, and written in a herky-jerky fashion. I'm glad I only paid a few bucks at the used bookstore for it, and I mention it only to steer people away from it if they should see it. (P.S. -- Stonewall Jackson at Gettysburg by Gibboney, which is listed above, is the book I refer to).
I really liked "Stonewall Goes West". I thought the writer did a good job at portraying Jackson.
 

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Release date 10 October 2016


http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1493019244/?tag=civilwartalkc-20

Stonewall Jackson's Little Sorrel: An Unlikely Hero of the Civil War

During the Civil War and throughout the rest of the nineteenth century there was no star that shone brighter than that of a small red horse who was known as Stonewall Jackson’s Little Sorrel. Robert E. Lee’s Traveller eventually became more familiar but he was mostly famous for his looks. Not so with the little sorrel. Early in the war he became known as a horse of great personality and charm, an eccentric animal with an intriguing background. Like Traveller, his enduring fame was due initially to the prominence of his owner and the uncanny similarities between the two of them. The little red horse long survived Jackson and developed a following of his own. In fact, he lived longer than almost all horses who survived the Civil War as well as many thousands of human veterans. His death in 1886 drew attention worthy of a deceased general, his mounted remains have been admired by hundreds of thousands of people since 1887, and the final burial of his bones (after a cross-country, multi-century odyssey) in 1997 was the occasion for an event that could only be described as a funeral, and a well-attended one at that. Stonewall Jackson’s Little Sorrel is the story of that horse.


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This relatively recent (2013) title is #258 in Osprey Publishing's popular Campaign series, and I thought it might be a worthy subject for inclusion here on the Stonewall Jackson Bookshelf, seeing as how there have been requests for shorter more-accessible accounts of this fairly complex operation; unfortunately, though adequate in most respects it's by no means anything more than that. Authors Clayton and James Donnell do a good job describing some of the more complicated individual battles, though these do not always coordinate well with the maps.

The real appeal of these slim paperback volumes (only 96 pp.), however, is usually the combination of text with maps, illustrations, and specially commissioned artworks, most often battle paintings, like Adam Hook's The Battle of Port Republic which is also reproduced on the cover, above. Unfortunately, the result in this as in most works on the Valley is the usual portraits of generals on both sides, a very few universally small pencil studies, generic photos of cannon, and a handful of modern photos that I think I may say are no better and no worse than those I've contributed here in my own threads. Rounding out this account is a single page entitled THE BATTLEFIELD TODAY that is almost useless due to the extremely general information it provides about the various locations comprising this campaign, spread out as it was over most of the Shenandoah Valley and surroundings.

For a more complete review of this overall disappointing work, please see: http://civilwartalk.com/threads/she...n-outmaneuvers-the-union.122697/#post-1293739
 
Thanks for mentioning this. It's my book, currently going through the first round of edits. I'll post some of the things that are going to have to be removed for length over the next few months. In this book you'll discover that some of the things you've assumed about Little Sorrel and Jackson are simply untrue. Sorry, Jackson biographers!

Release date 10 October 2016


http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1493019244/?tag=civilwartalkc-20

Stonewall Jackson's Little Sorrel: An Unlikely Hero of the Civil War

During the Civil War and throughout the rest of the nineteenth century there was no star that shone brighter than that of a small red horse who was known as Stonewall Jackson’s Little Sorrel. Robert E. Lee’s Traveller eventually became more familiar but he was mostly famous for his looks. Not so with the little sorrel. Early in the war he became known as a horse of great personality and charm, an eccentric animal with an intriguing background. Like Traveller, his enduring fame was due initially to the prominence of his owner and the uncanny similarities between the two of them. The little red horse long survived Jackson and developed a following of his own. In fact, he lived longer than almost all horses who survived the Civil War as well as many thousands of human veterans. His death in 1886 drew attention worthy of a deceased general, his mounted remains have been admired by hundreds of thousands of people since 1887, and the final burial of his bones (after a cross-country, multi-century odyssey) in 1997 was the occasion for an event that could only be described as a funeral, and a well-attended one at that. Stonewall Jackson’s Little Sorrel is the story of that horse.


511K8W1K7TL._SX331_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg
Release date 10 October 2016


http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1493019244/?tag=civilwartalkc-20

Stonewall Jackson's Little Sorrel: An Unlikely Hero of the Civil War

During the Civil War and throughout the rest of the nineteenth century there was no star that shone brighter than that of a small red horse who was known as Stonewall Jackson’s Little Sorrel. Robert E. Lee’s Traveller eventually became more familiar but he was mostly famous for his looks. Not so with the little sorrel. Early in the war he became known as a horse of great personality and charm, an eccentric animal with an intriguing background. Like Traveller, his enduring fame was due initially to the prominence of his owner and the uncanny similarities between the two of them. The little red horse long survived Jackson and developed a following of his own. In fact, he lived longer than almost all horses who survived the Civil War as well as many thousands of human veterans. His death in 1886 drew attention worthy of a deceased general, his mounted remains have been admired by hundreds of thousands of people since 1887, and the final burial of his bones (after a cross-country, multi-century odyssey) in 1997 was the occasion for an event that could only be described as a funeral, and a well-attended one at that. Stonewall Jackson’s Little Sorrel is the story of that horse.
Release date 10 October 2016


http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1493019244/?tag=civilwartalkc-20

Stonewall Jackson's Little Sorrel: An Unlikely Hero of the Civil War

During the Civil War and throughout the rest of the nineteenth century there was no star that shone brighter than that of a small red horse who was known as Stonewall Jackson’s Little Sorrel. Robert E. Lee’s Traveller eventually became more familiar but he was mostly famous for his looks. Not so with the little sorrel. Early in the war he became known as a horse of great personality and charm, an eccentric animal with an intriguing background. Like Traveller, his enduring fame was due initially to the prominence of his owner and the uncanny similarities between the two of them. The little red horse long survived Jackson and developed a following of his own. In fact, he lived longer than almost all horses who survived the Civil War as well as many thousands of human veterans. His death in 1886 drew attention worthy of a deceased general, his mounted remains have been admired by hundreds of thousands of people since 1887, and the final burial of his bones (after a cross-country, multi-century odyssey) in 1997 was the occasion for an event that could only be described as a funeral, and a well-attended one at that. Stonewall Jackson’s Little Sorrel is the story of that horse.


511K8W1K7TL._SX331_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg
Release date 10 October 2016


http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1493019244/?tag=civilwartalkc-20

Stonewall Jackson's Little Sorrel: An Unlikely Hero of the Civil War

During the Civil War and throughout the rest of the nineteenth century there was no star that shone brighter than that of a small red horse who was known as Stonewall Jackson’s Little Sorrel. Robert E. Lee’s Traveller eventually became more familiar but he was mostly famous for his looks. Not so with the little sorrel. Early in the war he became known as a horse of great personality and charm, an eccentric animal with an intriguing background. Like Traveller, his enduring fame was due initially to the prominence of his owner and the uncanny similarities between the two of them. The little red horse long survived Jackson and developed a following of his own. In fact, he lived longer than almost all horses who survived the Civil War as well as many thousands of human veterans. His death in 1886 drew attention worthy of a deceased general, his mounted remains have been admired by hundreds of thousands of people since 1887, and the final burial of his bones (after a cross-country, multi-century odyssey) in 1997 was the occasion for an event that could only be described as a funeral, and a well-attended one at that. Stonewall Jackson’s Little Sorrel is the story of that horse.


511K8W1K7TL._SX331_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg
 
Release date 10 October 2016


http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1493019244/?tag=civilwartalkc-20

Stonewall Jackson's Little Sorrel: An Unlikely Hero of the Civil War

During the Civil War and throughout the rest of the nineteenth century there was no star that shone brighter than that of a small red horse who was known as Stonewall Jackson’s Little Sorrel. Robert E. Lee’s Traveller eventually became more familiar but he was mostly famous for his looks. Not so with the little sorrel. Early in the war he became known as a horse of great personality and charm, an eccentric animal with an intriguing background. Like Traveller, his enduring fame was due initially to the prominence of his owner and the uncanny similarities between the two of them. The little red horse long survived Jackson and developed a following of his own. In fact, he lived longer than almost all horses who survived the Civil War as well as many thousands of human veterans. His death in 1886 drew attention worthy of a deceased general, his mounted remains have been admired by hundreds of thousands of people since 1887, and the final burial of his bones (after a cross-country, multi-century odyssey) in 1997 was the occasion for an event that could only be described as a funeral, and a well-attended one at that. Stonewall Jackson’s Little Sorrel is the story of that horse.


511K8W1K7TL._SX331_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg
The page proofs are in! The good news..it looks really good, if I say so myself. The bad news...I now have to work and shouldn't be spending my time here looking for interesting things.
 
All of the above are excellent books on Jackson but I would include the two volume work by Lenoir Chambers entitled: "Stonewall Jackson". The first volume's title is: "The Legend and the Man to Valley V" and the second volume's title is: "Seven Days I to the Last March" I believe GFR Henderson also wrote a multi volume biography of Jackson?
 
All of the above are excellent books on Jackson but I would include the two volume work by Lenoir Chambers entitled: "Stonewall Jackson". The first volume's title is: "The Legend and the Man to Valley V" and the second volume's title is: "Seven Days I to the Last March" I believe GFR Henderson also wrote a multi volume biography of Jackson?

Interesting; I hadn't heard of these, though I believe it was Chambers who authored my old Landmark - Stonewall Jackson for juveniles I got back when I was one! I'm pretty sure Henderson's book was originally issued in a two-volume set but is usually found in later editions bound together in one.
 
"We are in for it!" - The First Battle of Kernstown by Gary Ecelbarger

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I have just finished this very fine study of the First Battle of Kernstown and highly recommend it. Since Kernstown was the first battle in the 1862 Shenandoah Valley Campaign, there is a great deal of information about the beginnings of the campaign as well as a brief summation of it and follow-up of the principal actors in the drama. One real strength when compared with works by Robert Krick and other authors who have written about Jackson's battles is the extensive use of materials from the Union side which is often glossed over. I learned a good deal from Ecelbarger's study, from the probable actual strengths of both armies; to the often faulty tactical dispositions of units on both sides. A note for the worshipful, however: the Mighty Stonewall doesn't come off too favorably here and is even accused (probably rightly so!) of treating Richard Garnett as a scapegoat for his own failures.

Here's a more lengthy review for your consideration:

http://civilwartalk.com/threads/we-...stown-by-gary-ecelbarger.127359/#post-1390739
 

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"We are in for it!" - The First Battle of Kernstown by Gary Ecelbarger

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I have just finished this very fine study of the First Battle of Kernstown and highly recommend it. Since Kernstown was the first battle in the 1862 Shenandoah Valley Campaign, there is a great deal of information about the beginnings of the campaign as well as a brief summation of it and follow-up of the principal actors in the drama. One real strength when compared with works by Robert Krick and other authors who have written about Jackson's battles is the extensive use of materials from the Union side which is often glossed over. I learned a good deal from Ecelbarger's study, from the probable actual strengths of both armies; to the often faulty tactical dispositions of units on both sides. A note for the worshipful, however: the Mighty Stonewall doesn't come off too favorably here and is even accused (probably rightly so!) of treating Richard Garnett as a scapegoat for his own failures.

Here's a more lengthy review for your consideration:

http://civilwartalk.com/threads/we-...stown-by-gary-ecelbarger.127359/#post-1390739
James N. Are you attending the event in Gettysburg this week? If you are, I am looking forward to meeting you. David.
 

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For those that have read it How Are the biographies on Jackson by Frank Vandiver and Byron Farwell are they both easy to read and are they a good starting out point on Jackson?
 
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